March 18, 2011

The small Pulaski County settlement of Marche was established in the late 1870s as a refuge for Poles living in the United States. Count Timothy von Choinski purchased 11,000 acres of land from the railroad to help make a better life for his countrymen; the first group arrived in 1877. It grew into a thriving settlement and still exists in the twenty-first century, though much smaller. This 1961 photograph shows Max Malachowski’s store near the railroad.